I normally wouldn't compare the books to the tv series, because I think it's often unfair to do so. A 1200 page book can give a lot more story and insight than a 13 episode tv series. But if there is one point the book made that I think the tv series should have incorporated, it was the heartbreaking reason why Jenny tells Laghorie about Claire's return. Jenny and Claire are great foils for each other because they are very similar. They are both strong-willed, no nonsense women living in a male-dominated world, and both fiercely love Jaime. But the big difference between them, which the episode actually alludes to is that Claire is a woman of the world, a time-traveler who has been all over the world and seen things that an 18th century highland wife would not be able to comprehend. Jenny is a domestic, who for all of her independence, lives in a small world (I believe the line was that she has never been more than 10 miles from Lallybroch). In the book, Jenny tells Laghorie to drive Claire to leave, not just because of some resentment of Claire, but because she knows that with Claire back, Jaime will leave, and she will likely never see him again. If he's with Laghorie and Claire is gone, he will be tethered, close. With Claire, Jenny recognizes that Jaime will leave.
And why I think that fact would have been good to include in the episode is because it does so well in tying together so many of the themes that were presented in the first half of Season 3. In Seasons 1 and 2, the focus was very individualistic, on Jaime and Claire's relationship. It was a story about survival in various respects, Claire's survival in an unfamiliar world, Jaime and Claire's survival against Randall, Sandringham, the MacKenzies, and in the course of the Jacobite Rebellion, and even the survival of the marriage in connection with Randall's abuse, the loss of Faith, and the events in Paris.
Season 3 really transitions to a more outward focus, looking at the consequences of Jaime and Claire's relationship. You see how it affect Brianna, Roger, Frank, the Murrays etc. And more importantly, you see how Claire's return completely changes the tenor of so many lives. I always found the series and the books to be so interesting because while Claire largely serves as the main character, she remains relatively static throughout the series. Her personality, and what drives her as a person doesn't change all that much throughout the series. She starts the series as a gritty healer and a survivor, and that's who she remains. It's really Jaime, and Ian, and Fergus, and the other supporting characters that actually have inner growth and changes. I would say, it could be argued that Outlander is really Jaime's story, as he goes from a hot-headed ruffian before he meets Claire, and eventually becomes a fierce but wise-patriarch.
This is a long build up to say why this episode is so great, because all of the tension and consequences and pain that comes with Claire's return finally boils over. In Alexander Malcolm, there is tension, but it is overcome by joy and happiness. In Creme de Menthe, the tension is overcome by the emergencies presented. First Wife finally presents the reckoning in a beautiful way. Jenny is rightly angry with Claire; Claire was a sister to her. She disappeared, was presumed dead, and then returns abruptly, after Jaime's shop is burned down and she's killed a man. The fear that Jaime has had that Claire will leave is finally exposed as his secret marriage to Laghorie is revealed. Jaime and Claire both give voice to deep seeded resentment, Claire blaming Jaime for making her leave, for making her live a life she didn't want, Jaime, resenting Claire for leaving to raise their child with another man and without him.
And of course, I always think the highlight of all the episodes from Freedom and Whisky to First Wife is the idea of being frozen in time. When Claire leaves the future to return to the past, all connections with that world are frozen, in essence freezing that world in place. That's why Claire's return poses such difficulties for Jaime and the Murrays because their life has moved on in the past. When Claire returns, Jaime has a life, Claire has left her old life in the future behind. Because Claire is gone, she hasn't been a party to the 20 years of suffering that Jenny has gone through.
The episode is so enjoyable because the actors do such a great job to bring all of these complex challenges to life. The feelings of resentment, betrayal, fear, anger etc. All feel so genuine and leave Jaime and Claire at a kind of crossroads in their relationship. What I love about the ending is it's not posed as a matter of will-they-won't-they, or a matter of whether Jaime and Claire still love each other. We know as a viewer that the do. But rather, the concern is whether Claire made the right decision in coming back, whether her love for Jaime was worth leaving behind her home, her career, and her daughter.
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